Art Velez and J.J. Carroll suffered an excruciating second-place finish in last night's finale of "The Amazing Race." Believing they were in second place, the border patrol agents had difficulty with a challenge that saw Art careening down a hill on a narrow sled. But things got much, much worse when they realized that they were actually squandering what had been a fairly substantial lead over eventual winners Rachel and Dave.

We spoke with the pair about that final leg, interrogating Jamie and Nary, and their Pit Stop promise to Mark and Bopper.

Was that sledding challenge as tough as it looked?

Art: That didn't even come to close to showing how grueling that was. I give props to Rachel; she hopped on that thing and on the second time down, she was done.

How many times, Art, did you go down the hill?

Art: I'd say 40?

J.J.: I think it was closer to 50.

What was it like figuring out that you'd actually been in first place the whole time?

J.J.: I actually heard their voices first. Then we knew. We'd thought we were second.

J.J., what was it like for you watching Art have such a tough time?

J.J.: It was tough. I knew how he has the same competitive desire that I do. What people don't understand is the anxiety and the frustration that goes into it, every time. Then you start getting the attitude that “I'm not going to be able to do it.” I think a lesser man would have said, "This isn't worth it" or given up. He knew he had to get down there. If I took him up on the hill right now, I'm sure he'd get it on the first try. It was just one of those things that didn't work out. But that's just how life is.

Art: When we walked up there, they were holding three sleds, and I was like, "This is going to be a piece of cake. I want to get a sled that's the quickest." So I chose the sled with the thinnest rails. Once you got it, that's the one. I never thought about not being able to balance. I just wanted to get down fast. I was looking at the sled with thick rails and thought, I need something faster. It's was as different as an ice skate to something pretty thick.

Was it torture watching Sunday night's episode?

Art: It was fun! We had close to 300 people watching it with us last night, and it was a blast. Of course we wanted to win, but our goal was to race to the end, and we did that.

When you saw the fight you had with Dave and Rachel over the U Turn. Do you wish you'd been a little less aggressive about it?

Art: To me, we're men of our word. We're men of integrity. You hear Dave and Rachel, like, "It wasn't this and that … " We had a plan -- to take the strongest teams to the finals, Ralph and Vanessa, Mark and Bopper, and Rachel and Dave, and it'd be all bets off to the final. If they'd done what they said they would do … If Dave and Rachel had been in [our] position, they would have been just as mad.

How did you guys know Jamie and Nary were lying about being teachers?

Art: My wife's a teacher. My mom's a teacher. My whole family's a family of educators. When you talk to them, they talk about kids or teachers or parents or administrators. We were like, "They say they're teachers, but they're not talking like teachers." People lie to us in our job every day, and our job is to figure out who's lying. But it didn't really matter because it was actually kind of funny. It's just part of the game. Personally, I could have cared less.

How did the race change your relationship?

Art: With J.J.? I hate him. [Laughs.] You know what, we became friends when we started working together, but now we're brothers. This is something I'll cherish for the rest of my life. He's an awesome, great man of integrity and value and conviction, and it's a good thing to have those kinds of people in your life.

J.J. We'll be friends for life. One thing that sticks out in my mind: Art comes off as sometimes very direct and harsh in his professional life, but in his own life, he's a good, strong and Christian family man. When I got done Bollywood dancing, we got back in the rickshaw. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. Instead of railing on me, he goes, "You know, you did really good. We're in good shape." I remember sitting in that rickshaw, and I hoped if that had happened to Art I would be that good of a man. That was a poignant moment for me.

As to that Bollywood challenge, were the judges too strict?

J.J. No, I'm just a horrible dancers. I think the judges gave me the okay out of straight mercy. I have fond memories of those judges.

And what about your promise to share your leg winnings of $10,000 with Bopper's daughter, who's been seriously ill?

J.J. Absolutely. As far as we're concerned, we're considering those proceeds to be distributed by CBS.

Art: To me, we're men of our word. We're men of integrity. You hear Dave and Rachel, like, "It wasn't this and that … " We had a plan -- to take the strongest teams to the finals, Ralph and Vanessa, Mark and Bopper, and Rachel and Dave, and it'd be all bets off to the final.

Huh? What? Brendon and Rachel had better average placings than either Ralph and Vanessa or Mark and Bopper. I think they are including Mark and Bopper just as they were edited as fans favourites, and they made Vanessa part of their alliance as they wanted to put a target on B&R's back. The final 3 was actually the correct 3 racers according to the average placements.

Art: To me, we're men of our word. We're men of integrity. You hear Dave and Rachel, like, "It wasn't this and that … " We had a plan -- to take the strongest teams to the finals, Ralph and Vanessa, Mark and Bopper, and Rachel and Dave, and it'd be all bets off to the final.

Huh? What? Brendon and Rachel had better average placings than either Ralph and Vanessa or Mark and Bopper. I think they are including Mark and Bopper just as they were edited as fans favourites, and they made Vanessa part of their alliance as they wanted to put a target on B&R's back. The final 3 was actually the correct 3 racers according to the average placements.

I think Art meant, the strongest teams that he and J.J. liked. I don't disagree with you, but Art and J.J. never recognized Brendon and Rachel's abilities.

Thanks for the interviews! I really enjoyed reading it. And I don't understand why people hate them so much. Even in other forums. Yes, they are arrogant at some point, but it was because they wanna win this race and stay competitive all throughout.

Art and JJ may have rubbed some people the wrong way this season on The Amazing Race, but you can't deny what great competitors they were. They went on a hot streak, winning three legs in a row, and never finished any lower than fourth. A tough Road Block on the final leg cost them the race, but they can keep their heads held high. We talked to the border patrol agents today in an exclusive interview about their opinions of other teams, people's perception of them, and that unforgettable race to the finish line.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What made the two of you want to run The Amazing Race?A. Art: Well, JJ and I have been working together about two years. At the time when we decided to do it, we had only known each other about eight months. He was like, "I love The Amazing Race, we should try out for it!" and I thought he was crazy. It was JJ's idea.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You figured out, early on, that Nary and Jamie were lying about their profession. Was it smart of them to lie about that? Do you think it mattered that you were border patrol agents?A. JJ: You know, Art's ridiculous idea before the race was to be shower curtain salesmen! I don't know if it made any difference when you're running the race. All you're thinking about is not getting eliminated.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Dave and Rachel may have finished first eight times but you guys were impressive yourselves, almost always finishing in the top three and coming in first three times in a row! Is it safe to say that you saw Dave and Rachel as your biggest competition?A. Art: I think they were the competition and we knew that from day one when we started this thing. They looked athletic, we didn't know who they were, or what their dynamic was. Once we found out Dave was a helicopter pilot, it was one of those things where we knew they had the intellect and athletic ability. When we first saw them, I was like, "I'm going to have to worry about those guys."

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What do you think everyone's issue was with Brendon and Rachel this season? You didn't have a very high opinion of them.A. JJ: You know, for Art and I, the biggest problem was that they followed us everywhere we went. They would stop and wait for us to go and the other thing was that they would cut in line and be really abrasive about it. They knew there was no physical altercation allowed. A man gets a lot of confidence when he knows he's not going to get punched in the face for doing something. We got tired and we decided to jam them with the U-Turn but we never really worried about them.A. Art: And the thing is, when we started this thing, I didn't even know who they were. I never saw them, I never watched Big Brother, I didn't know anything about them. They brought that dynamic where they would say things about people to other people and try to manipulate teams against each other. It was really weird!

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: One aspect of The Amazing Race that's different than other reality competitions is that, a lot of the time, you're away from the other people you're competing against. What did you learn when you watched the episodes back about everyone else?A. JJ: I learned that we were very disliked. We thought we got along with everyone very well. A lot of times on the show, people's comments were, "Have you seen Art and JJ? Where's Art and JJ?" I took that as a compliment. You had to run the race a certain way to win and that's how Art and I took that upon ourselves. We didn't know we were rubbing people the wrong way. We keep up with some people. I don't have any animosity now but we're not going to buy plane tickets to go to Wisconsin anytime soon and fly helicopters. It was a great experience; it ended in a way that was unfortunate.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Speaking of the way it ended, how difficult was it for the two of you in that final leg, to come in second?A. Art: Yeah, you kinda replay it in your head a little bit. That stupid sled thing took forever to get done. I don't know what else I could've done other than pick a different sled to make it go any better. I think I went down that hill 40-50 times and I jacked up my foot doing that Japanese game show. I still remember the pain in my foot! There were so many other tasks and things that led up to that moment. You can focus on the one bad thing or you can focus on the 99 other things.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What do you want to do next?A. Art: JJ wants to go and take over for Rush Limbaugh! Me, personally, visiting those other places... those are places I want my family to experience. But I love my job!A. JJ: I'm hoping for anything that happens. I love challenges in my life and whatever direction this may take or not. I got a lot out of The Amazing Race and it just reaffirms my belief in life and that you gotta take chances and try to do things outside of the box. It was something I wanted to do and we did it! We did it on a grand scale! The Amazing Race, when you're in it, is grueling. For Art and I to lose the way we did... we would be lying if we said we didn't think about it every day. And we have. At the same time, we did it.

Art Velez and J.J. Carrell finished The Amazing Race's twentieth season in second place during Sunday night's two-hour finale broadcast, which featured the edition's eleventh and twelfth legs, of the CBS reality competition.

The "Border Patrol Agents and Friends" finished ahead of "Engaged Couple" and former Big Brother houseguests Rachel Reilly and Brendon Villegas -- who came in third place -- and "Dating Divorcees" Vanessa Macias and Ralph Kelley, who finished fourth and were ineligible to compete in the final leg. However, Art and J.J. failed to beat champions and "Married Couple" Rachel Brown and Dave Brown by only a matter of minutes and lost the one-million dollar grand prize as a result.

On Monday, Art and J.J. talked to Reality TV World about their The Amazing Race experience -- including whether they were really okay with finishing as the runners-up or were even more disappointed about losing than they let on, what they had to say about the major mistake Rachel and Dave made in skipping the last Roadblock task of the season, how hard Art apparently tried during the Hawaiian-games task to finally land the sled safely, and whether Art thought the women had an advantage during that Roadblock he struggled to complete.

Below is the first half of our exclusive interview with Art and J.J. Check back with Reality TV World in the coming days for the concluding portion.

Reality TV World: Congratulations on being the runners-up of The Amazing Race! How does it feel to have finished in second place? Are you guys disappointed because you came so close to winning the million or are you satisfied with how you ran all the legs and proud of how far you made it?

J.J. Carrell: We're still pretty damn devastated that we didn't win, but we got to do something that tens of thousands -- hundreds of thousands -- people would kill to be able to do. So we were able to fulfill one of our goals and to experience the Race from the beginning all the way to the end. But to be that close was very, very tough -- real tough.

Reality TV World: When I talked to Rachel and Dave today, they said you got to the Pit Stop about 20 minutes behind them and then Rachel and Brendon finished the Race about 20 minutes behind you guys. Would you say that was accurate or no?

Art Velez: Yeah, I'd say that was pretty accurate because by the time they left, it was about 20-30 minutes by the time they cleared out of there when we were still on the hill doing the sleds.

Reality TV World: Since you guys left that final Hawaiian-games Roadblock task in second place, when you finally arrived at the Finish Line and before you saw Rachel and Dave standing there, were you convinced you had finished the whole thing in second place or did you think you still had a real shot at winning?

J.J. Carrell: We knew we were second. After we saw Dave and Rachel leave, we knew. But at the same time, we thought -- I mean, we're both optimists -- so we said, "Hey, they made a terrible mistake. Maybe they made some other mistake. Maybe they have some time penalty or something, so we're not going to quit. Let's just keep plugging through this sucker and let's get on that mat and see where we stand."

Reality TV World: During the final leg of the Race, Rachel and Dave apparently misread the clue and didn't follow the marked path they were supposed to in order to make it to the Hawaiian games Roadblock task. Do you think that was an easy and understandable mistake they had made or were you shocked they managed to make that error?

Art Velez: You know what? I never really thought about it that way. I just thought that something happened with their cab or they got lost or made a wrong turn or something. I never knew that they ended up going to the Pit Stop, or to the end, and then got turned around.

So, that's not anything that I -- with all the things that you do and by the time you're towards the end of something like that, with the sleep deprivation and no food and no water, you just tend to overlook stuff and you just misread things.

I mean, Rachel and Brendon didn't read that they were supposed to go to the helicopters on foot and they ended up driving somewhere in the complete opposite direction. It's just one of those things that you're just so tired by the time you get to do this stuff, that you just lose attention to detail.

Reality TV World: Rachel and Dave said it took them about an hour to backtrack and get to the Roadblock task you were at after they met Phil at the Pit Stop learned of their mistake. So based upon that, Art, you must have been going at the sledding portion of the task for awhile. How long did it take you to complete and how many tries did it take you to finally land the ride?

Art Velez: I was probably there for about an hour, an hour-and-a-half, and we figured that I probably did the sled anywhere between 40 and 50 times.

Reality TV World: Oh wow, that's a lot! So J.J., you seemed extremely frustrated when Art was having trouble with the sledding task. What was going through your mind at that point? Did you feel totally defeated or still optimistic, and do you think the whole outcome of the Race would've been different had you decided to do the task instead?

J.J. Carrell: I was feeling two emotions. I was feeling frustrated obviously because especially when we saw Dave and Rachel, we were like, "Oh my God, we've been in first but we've been in first for about an hour." I was like, "Art, I thought maybe she would tumble a couple times and maybe give Art a chance to get down."

But then another part of me was sad for Art, and I don't know if sad's the right word, but I felt compassion for Art because he was trying so hard. It just wasn't -- it was one of those days that just wasn't your day. If I threw Art up there on a sled today, he would slide down and do it like the first or second try.

And as far as me doing it, you know, that's second-guessing. If we go back and you look at all the things Art did that I wouldn't be good at, that got us all the way to the end, you can't second guess it. And all we wanted to do was be in the Final 3 to make the shot at winning and we did.

We put ourselves right there for over an hour to be in first and that was our for the taking, and for whatever reason, it just didn't happen. But I'm proud of Art. He could've given up. He could've just said, "I'm done." And 50 times, people have gotta understand. You're carrying a sled all the way back up a hill that he already has bad turf toe from his Japanese treadmill.

And to go up and down that hill and keep crashing -- I'm not talking like, "Wow, he just fell off." I mean, he had some violent wrecks. His sled was tumbling over him, he's rolling down the hill, he looked like a greased pig by the end of that thing.

Reality TV World: (Laughs) Art, did you end up with any injuries from that sledding Roadblock task? And do you think it was a task that was much easier for women, or maybe it just favored lighter people in general? Or would you admit you just happened to be really bad at it? (Laughs)

Art Velez: To me, you definitely had to be -- if you were of smaller stature, you were going to do a lot better, because the thing was only eight inches wide. I mean, I'm 240 pounds for crying out loud, and trying to get on that thing and balance on it, I never in my mind didn't think that I wasn't going to stay on it.

That just never crossed my mind. We had a choice of three sleds and I picked the sled with the smallest rail, thinking it was going to be the fastest one, and that's all I wanted to do. I wanted to do it the fastest that I could, but I probably should've picked a sled that had maybe thicker rails, because the balance part of it never even crossed my mind.

Reality TV World: So would you say that Hawaiian games Roadblock task was entirely responsible for your downfall in the finale or would you say other factors contributed to your second-place finish like when you guys traveled to the beach rather than the Twin Towers?

Art Velez: By then, when we traveled to the Twin Towers, I mean, okay we were in third place, but we made up a ton of time. By the time we got to the helicopters and we did the jet skiing and all that stuff, yeah.

We put ourselves in the position to win, so if not being able to complete that sledding thing was our downfall, then absolutely, because we were in first place and we couldn't get it completed in time to win. So absolutely.

Above is the first half of our exclusive interview with Art and J.J. Check back with Reality TV World in the coming days for the concluding portion.

A. JJ: You know, for Art and I, the biggest problem was that they followed us everywhere we went. They would stop and wait for us to go and the other thing was that they would cut in line and be really abrasive about it. They knew there was no physical altercation allowed. A man gets a lot of confidence when he knows he's not going to get punched in the face for doing something. We got tired and we decided to jam them with the U-Turn but we never really worried about them.A. Art: And the thing is, when we started this thing, I didn't even know who they were. I never saw them, I never watched Big Brother, I didn't know anything about them. They brought that dynamic where they would say things about people to other people and try to manipulate teams against each other. It was really weird!

As the interviewer can't seem to follow up on the irony of their comments maybe I will.

Altercations, manipulating teams...maybe Art and JJ should take a close look at themselves. They are either just playing us for a fool here or they are just totally lacking self-awareness. Some of it is the second for sure, and while that can be funny on reality shows too much of it can be very annoying.

It may annoy them that Brendon and Rachel where actually more liked on the race than they were.

A. JJ: You know, for Art and I, the biggest problem was that they followed us everywhere we went. They would stop and wait for us to go and the other thing was that they would cut in line and be really abrasive about it. They knew there was no physical altercation allowed. A man gets a lot of confidence when he knows he's not going to get punched in the face for doing something. We got tired and we decided to jam them with the U-Turn but we never really worried about them.A. Art: And the thing is, when we started this thing, I didn't even know who they were. I never saw them, I never watched Big Brother, I didn't know anything about them. They brought that dynamic where they would say things about people to other people and try to manipulate teams against each other. It was really weird!

As the interviewer can't seem to follow up on the irony of their comments maybe I will.

Altercations, manipulating teams...maybe Art and JJ should take a close look at themselves. They are either just playing us for a fool here or they are just totally lacking self-awareness. Some of it is the second for sure, and while that can be funny on reality shows too much of it can be very annoying.

It may annoy them that Brendon and Rachel where actually more liked on the race than they were.

I meant by the racers on the race, where they definitely are more liked. Even with the audience they are likely to have more support I think despite the edit because they already had some popularity on Big Brother.

I meant by the racers on the race, where they definitely are more liked. Even with the audience they are likely to have more support I think despite the edit because they already had some popularity on Big Brother.

You continue to talk about "the edit" in post after post. Let's not lose sight of the fact that no one could have done any editing to show Rachel whining and crying unless she had actually been whining and crying. They didn't invent these things and create the crying using CGI.

Just saying.

Not to mention that Brendon himself didn't dislike the editing:

"BRENDON: I think they did a pretty well-rounded job of being fair to us."

You really think racers want to get the production team annoyed before they have received any money and also if they wish to get anything in the future with CBS or The Amazing Race? And I'm sure Brendon didn't dislike the editing anyway, he was portrayed pretty well in contrast to Rachel.

You really think racers want to get the production team annoyed before they have received any money and also if they wish to get anything in the future with CBS or The Amazing Race? And I'm sure Brendon didn't dislike the editing anyway, he was portrayed pretty well in contrast to Rachel.

Art Velez and J.J. Carrell finished The Amazing Race's twentieth season in second place during Sunday night's two-hour finale broadcast, which featured the edition's eleventh and twelfth legs, of the CBS reality competition.

The "Border Patrol Agents and Friends" finished ahead of "Engaged Couple" and former Big Brother houseguests Rachel Reilly and Brendon Villegas -- who came in third place -- and "Dating Divorcees" Vanessa Macias and Ralph Kelley, who finished fourth and were ineligible to compete in the final leg. However, Art and J.J. failed to beat champions and "Married Couple" Rachel Brown and Dave Brown by only a matter of minutes and lost the one-million dollar grand prize as a result.

On Monday, Art and J.J. talked to Reality TV World about their The Amazing Race experience -- including what they referred to as a "horrible decision" they made during the Race, why Art was very impressed with Rachel B. in the final leg, what initially sparked all the tension between the pair and Rachel R. and Brendon, and how they responded to the criticism of their fellow Racers who thought they were rude and arrogant.

Below is the concluding portion of our exclusive interview with Art and J.J. Click here to read the first half. To read Rachel B. and Dave's entire interview, click here. To check out what Rachel and Brendon had to say about the Race, click here. And finally, to read Vanessa and Ralph's interview, click here.

Reality TV World: You guys chose to blindly follow Rachel and Dave in their cab to get to the Twin Towers without researching or asking around yourselves where you should've been heading. So looking back, what would you have done differently in that situation? Because I'm sure you wouldn't thrilled with how you let that play out.

J.J. Carrell: That was a horrible decision and Art and I talked about it right before we got off the plane, and we talked about it throughout the Race, "Let's make sure we get a good cab driver." And the guy was a nice older man, but he had absolutely no clue where anything was on that island.

So we actually got rid of him and got another cab. That's the only mistake I think we made on that leg, but man, did we make up about an hour's worth of time and we flew through the ice, we ran to the helicopters, we did the search and rescue within seconds. They actually thought that we didn't do it because we did it so fast, and then like Art said, we put ourselves -- we were in position to win for over an hour.

If you could tell me that at the beginning of the Race we'll be going down a sled and you've got an hour to complete, shoot, I'll take that bet every time. It just didn't work out. It just wasn't our day.

Reality TV World: What was your reaction when you saw Rachel and Dave arrive at the Hawaiian games Roadblock task when you guys were already there? Did it pump your adrenaline more to win now that you realized you were technically in first place, or did it just make you guys all the more nervous and anxious?

Art Velez: When they showed up there, I was already probably 30-45 into the thing and I was already dead tired as it was. So I'm like, "You know what? I just hope she has just as much trouble doing this thing as I am." And I actually got more defeated when she did it on her second try.

I was like, "Wow, that is awesome." I was like, "You know what...?" I was in awe. That was really cool that she was able to do that on her second try, because I had been laboring at that thing, like I said, for about an hour before they even got there.

Reality TV World: During the eleventh leg, you guys chose to do the "Bingo" Detour task, while Rachel and Dave chose to do "Photo Cut-Out" one. Rachel and Dave seemed to breeze through that Detour task, so looking back, do you guys think you made the right decision or do you regret picking the sushi task? And if you did the photo one, do you think you would have had a better chance to win the Race?

Art Velez: I don't know if we would've had a better chance to win it, but we would've had a better chance to win that leg. I wanted to do the sushi one because I was like, "Dude, we're in Japan. Let's have sushi in Japan!" He didn't want any part of it, like, "Come on, man! We're in Japan! I want to have sushi!" And he's like, "I'd rather have a steak."

Reality TV World: Earlier in the season you made a pact with Rachel and Dave to U-Turn Rachel and Brendon depending on who got to the Double U-Turn board first, however, Rachel and Dave ended up deciding not to U-Turn anybody. Could you elaborate on how you felt about their decision, because you seemed to think it was quite the betrayal or at least that's how the show edited it to appear.

J.J. Carrell: You know, there's a lot of back story to that and it was a three-way alliance, but it really wasn't an alliance. It was like a security blanket, because Dave and Rachel and Art and I in the very beginning, won the first seven -- eight -- legs, so we knew that they were going to U-Turn us.

Somebody in that Race was going to U-Turn us, and then Big Brother was going to U-Turn Ralph and Vanessa because they hated Vanessa so much. So all three of us got together and said, "Hey, if one of our teams fall in the back, the other two will U-Turn back-to-back at a Double U-Turn, or if it's a single U-Turn, just U-Turn Big Brother."

And we all agreed to it as a security for us, so going into that leg, Dave actually looked at me at 5:30 in the morning across the table from breakfast and said, "Are we still on for what we've discussed?" And I was like, "Absolutely. We're on. Okay, we're still in agreement."

So, Vanessa and Ralph are in the back and they're expecting Dave and Rachel to use their U-Turn on Art and I, so whenever I got up there on the U-Turn, it was a no-brainer. We were like, "Absolutely. This is our word. This is what we've gotta do." So, I don't know if betrayal is the right word. It was just that another man didn't keep his word, so that's the whole back story to that.

Reality TV World: Did you guys and Rachel and Dave ever solve your issues or talk things out after that U-Turn moment or did your hard feelings towards them remain until the end?

J.J. Carrell: Yeah, it remained all the way until the end because there was nothing to talk about and they began to align with other teams immediately, and we were just like, "You know, all bets are off. Let's just run it. You and I -- we're supposed to win this Race anyway, so let's just do it." And that was our attitude.

Reality TV World: You guys said during last night's finale episode that Rachel and Brendon didn't deserve to be in the Race because they were just followers and basically had no real racing skills. Could you talk a little bit more about that? It was clear you didn't think highly of them during the Race, but considering they made it to the end and came in third place, have you changed your mind about them as a team and whether they deserved to be there or are you going to stick with your initial opinions?

Art Velez: When we started this thing, I had no idea who Rachel and Brendon were. I had never watched Big Brother -- had no clue about that whole thing -- nothing. I just got way too many things to do to even figure out what that show's about.

But you gotta understand that at the very beginning, on the very first leg, Brendon's the one that pointed out the fact that we're border patrol agents and he doesn't like us anyway because he's half Mexican.

So that attitude right there -- which we didn't even know was said -- that already carried through in the way that he acted towards us anyway. So the things that they would do is what ended up creating the hostility, because they were using their "Big Brother tactics" or whatever it is they use in that house, to put other people against people.

And we saw that, and when they would jump in front of lines and cut lines and look back and say, "What are you going to do about it?" I was like, "Really dude? Come on man."

So that's that whole part of it, and do they deserve to be there? Whatever, they got there. But like I said, they got there by following people everywhere they went. They never finished first because you can't finish first if you're always following somebody.

Reality TV World: Many of the other teams seemed to have an issue with you guys in which they thought you were arrogant or rude and what not. I guess, what's your response to how many of the other teams had viewed you in a negative light. Would you say you were just playing competitively and that's what you needed to do to try to win, or looking back, do you wished you had toned your behavior down a bit and attempted to get along with your fellow Racers a little better?

J.J. Carrell: I don't know where in the history of America that [being] ambitious and confident men is in fact a sin. We were racing for a million dollars. I don't think that we were rude.

People think that we're rude because two women that are federal agents and are lying, and we catch them in a lie, or we make jokes to stir the pot up, it's a million-dollar race! We might be aggressive guys but we're not rude and we're not jerks.

You can call it a lot of things, but we're not that. It did strike me strange that we were that disliked, because I thought we got along with everyone pretty well, but it also just struck me as very unique that being two men that are ambitious and direct and competitive -- that's somehow an evil thing -- that we should've been patty-caking with everybody.

Yeh the impression you sometimes get from abroad is that some Americans will put up with people who are loud and arrogant as they think it represents confidence or success. Someone like Frank in the first season I just found quite annoying. It is a big generalisation to think all the audience will be positive about that though, and certainly those abroad who watch will have their own perspective too.

As for the remark Brendon made about Border Patrol it seemed jokey and was just shown out of context. The fact that Art is just using something he saw edited into the HLs to try and justify his and JJ's behaviour isn't really that impressive.

They still don't seem to get that they themselves helped create hostility according to most of the racers. The only one who might be on their side is Vanessa and really I don't trust her anyway.

I think they were so worried about the u-turn as they were actually performing less well towards the end. Dave and Rachel doing better in the game at that point didn't actually have to worry about u-turning that much.

The interviewer should have brought up the irony of them following another team while complaining that someone else did that. Ultimately they all go to the same place and a basic tactic at times in the race is if you get lost make sure it is with someone else. Going out completely on your own can bring big dividends but can also cost you the race. That's why teams like to be able to see other teams.

Worst team ever, anyone's with me? I thought I couldn't find a more whiney team than Michael and Louie until they came along.

Absolutely NOT with you! Whiney is one thing and competitiveness is another. These two men were incredibly competitive. I'm hard pressed to think that Rachel and Brenden would be considered less whiney. In addition, if you watched with a close eye ....Art's behavior was vey different than JJ's. I would say incredibly strong team and one of the oldest teams to make it that far!

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